


Sweet Dreams Are Made of This

by tymedfire



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Gen, I wrote this a long time ago, THATS WHY, Team as Family, but hated the beginning, dancer!lance, lance is artsy yall, pure fluff, so if the beginning feels patchy to you, surprise surprise, the title is a song again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-05
Updated: 2017-10-05
Packaged: 2019-01-09 06:24:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12270723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tymedfire/pseuds/tymedfire
Summary: Lance gets Earth music again.





	Sweet Dreams Are Made of This

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mssstilinski](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mssstilinski/gifts).



After three weeks of non-stop fighting, they had finally gotten a break and Allura took the castle-ship to deep space for a much needed reprieve. It had been a hard decision, but her paladins had needed a break, and the castle-ship needed some repairs. Each paladin had slept for a solid day, even Shiro, though that was more due to the fact that the others had insisted on a “paladin pile”, as they called it, in the lounge. 

After that initial rest, however, the paladins all went back to their own stress-relieving projects. Hunk made some recipes he had been dying to try, Keith and Shiro began to train and spar, occasionally taking a break to visit Hunk, Pidge hid herself in the green lions hangar to work on a “top secret project that you are all gonna love me for”, and Lance wandered. Sometimes he sat with Blue, talking to her for hours; other times, he checked on all his teammates. More than once, shouting could be heard from the green lions hangar for minutes at a time before Pidge emerged, grumbling irritably, and made her way to the kitchen and then her room, ushered by a satisfied Lance. 

Two days into their mini vacation, Pidge ran into the kitchen, where all the other inhabitants of the castle were waiting for breakfast, at full speed, clutching a bundle of wires, with a huge grin on her face. It looked to Lance like she hadn’t slept at all the night before, and he gave her an irritated look that she ignored. 

“It’s official, I am a genius, and you should all bow to me, because I just made your lives so much better!” She jumps up and down, excited and probably more than a little caffeinated.

“Uh… why?” Keith asked. 

“Because of… these!” She thrust her bundle of wires in Keith’s face so hard he almost fell out of his chair. 

Holding Keith in place and smiling slightly, Shiro said, “You might want to explain what those are before trying to suffocate people with them, Pidge.”

“Oh, right!” She untangled on of the wires from her bundle, which turned out to just be a smaller bundle of wires with a somewhat solid end. Glancing around the kitchen, she seemed to find what she was looking for and dashed to one of the Altean cooking things that reminded Lance of a toaster. Hiding what she was doing, she set to work. After a minute she turned around triumphantly, holding her phone that was - oh. Oh! Lance gaped at the shining light coming from her phone screen and she grinned at him. “I made chargers.” 

After, there was complete chaos as Hunk and Lance hugged Pidge, yelling about how wonderful she was, then set to work untangling their own chargers. Shiro, obviously, didn’t have a phone, and Keith hadn’t had one even on earth, so they explained what Pidge had done and why they were so excited about it to Coran and Allura. 

For the rest of the morning, Hunk played music gleefully in the kitchen and cooked, Lance sitting folded into himself at the table, looking through his pictures and videos. They talked occasionally, but mostly they just enjoyed each other’s company and the earth music. 

After lunch, Lance was the first one to leave, unplugging his phone from the charger, ruffling Pidges hair as she flipped him the bird, and dashing out as fast as he could. Allura raised an eyebrow at Lances behavior and looked at Hunk questioningly. Hunk could only shrug and smile, just as out of the loop as the rest. Once everybody is finished, Hunk happily cleans up, then retires to the main hangar to work on Yellow. Hours later, Keith storms into the room, followed closely by Shiro, the latter looking exasperated. 

“What is Lance doing?” The red paladin demands. Hunk blinks at him, putting his Altean kind-of-wrench down. 

“I don’t know? What _is _Lance doing?” Now that he thinks about it, Hunk hasn’t seen his friend since lunch. Usually Hunk sees Lance at least twice a day when the blue paladin comes to check on him, but he hasn’t come at all today, which worries Hunk.__

__Shiro sighs, cutting Keith off and placing a hand on his shoulder. “He’s been on the training deck for hours and he won’t open the door or even say anything. I think what Keith means to say,” he gives the red paladin a look at this, “ is, is Lance okay? He doesn’t normally train extra, and he definitely doesn’t usually ignore us.”_ _

__Hunk is suddenly even more concerned because, no, that is not like his best friend at all. If he was in a bad mood or didn’t feel good, he would have come to Hunk or Blue or Coran. Lance loves people, he takes comfort in being around people. Hunk can’t think of a reason that Lance would lock himself away from others. “Yeah, yeah, that’s weird. Did you try the door to the observation box?”_ _

__Shiro nods. “Locked, too. We couldn’t find Coran anywhere, so we came to you.” Keith crosses his arms and nods, too._ _

__“Oh, well, I don’t have the code for it, but Coran should be in the infirmary. Come on, I wanna know what’s wrong with Lance.” They all leave together, walking quickly to the infirmary. They grab a slightly confused Coran and haul him out, explaining the situation. They’re all walking so fast they literally run into Pidge, and the small girl hits the ground with a loud _oof! _“Sorry, Pidge, I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you, are you hurt?”___ _

____Pidge picks herself up from the floor carefully, dusting herself off and picking up her phone. “Hunk, I’m fine, I promise, it’s okay. Where are all of you going in such a hurry, anyways?”_ _ _ _

____Coran answers her quickly. “We’re going to see what is ailing number three, he’s locked himself in the training deck. Would you like to join, number five?”_ _ _ _

____Pidge rolls her eyes at the nickname. “What makes you think something’s wrong with him? Couldn’t he just be training? You guys train all the time.”_ _ _ _

____Hunk shakes his head and says, “ Yeah, but for hours?”_ _ _ _

____Pidge tilts her head, considering. “Well, didn’t Keith just beat that new level with the gladiator? That made him kinda jealous, he’s probably just trying to beat Keith.” Keith makes an “as if” noise. “But if you still want to see, I’d love to see him get his ass kicked.” She turns to walk ahead of them, but not before Hunk catches the way her face falls into a look of concern, making him think she doesn’t entirely believe what she said._ _ _ _

____In just a few minutes, they’re in the observation box. They pile in, all straining to look out the window. “What is he doing?” Keith asks, confused when they find the blue paladin sitting in the middle of training deck, legs bent and eyes closed, arms hanging limply by his side._ _ _ _

____“Is he okay?” Pidge asks worriedly. Coran reaches for the intercom just as everything clicks for Hunk. He gasps and all but yells, “Wait!” Coran freezes and they all stare at Hunk._ _ _ _

____“Just wait. I know what’s happening. Coran is there a way for us to hear the training deck, but for the training deck to not hear us?” Coran nods and Hunk can’t help but grinning. “Okay, do that. You guys just watch, I can’t believe I didn’t think of this earlier, I’m so stupid!”_ _ _ _

____“You’re not stupid,” Keith protests, but Hunk shushes him, shooting him a smile._ _ _ _

____Coran hits a button and music suddenly fills the observation box. At first it’s just piano. Lance sits in his position, eyes closed. Keith starts to open his mouth again but Hunk holds up his hand and points back down at Lance, still grinning. The piano slows down and they hear singing._ _ _ _

____And Lance moves._ _ _ _

____At first, it’s small. He moves his right hand and left leg at the same time, pushing them both out and down. He slowly releases his head toward the ceiling, then he plants his hand on the floor and twist over himself, standing up, and he’s off. For someone as tall and lanky as Lance, he moves with surprising grace. His movements flow, and he reminds Shiro of the ocean tide, pushing and pulling his body with practiced ease. They watch, dumbfounded, amazed. Lance steps with the beat of the drum, side then front, and then he’s spinning with his leg out at a ninety degree angle. A fouette, Shiro thinks it’s called. From what little Shiro knows about dance, he thinks those are supposed to be pretty hard. He can imagine, with the balance and the spinning, which is why he’s amazed when Lance does _eight _. He doesn’t stop, though, instead pulling his foot in to touch his knee for two rotations, then his ankle for three more rotations. He ends by throwing his arms in front of him, palms spread wide, and sliding down into a middle split before rolling and standing again. Shiro can only stare, and suddenly he understands how Lance can shoot his bayard so quickly with so much accuracy, because the boy doesn’t even look _dizzy _. He just keeps going, keeps moving, and Shiro can’t help but marvel at how _flexible _his teammate is. He thinks the team needs to start taking Lances comments about stretching before training more seriously. Behind him, he hears Hunk start talking, pride evident in his voice._______ _ _ _

__________“Lance and his older sister used to take dance classes together. I remember, after the first one, Lance talking for hours about how much fun it was. They were both really good, too, especially together. Believe me, those two loved to perform for literally anybody anywhere, so I’ve seen a lot. That’s actually how Lance got to go to the Garrison. This guy, really rich, told them both that he’d give them full ride scholarships to his school. His sister accepted, but Lance said that he wanted to be a pilot, which was luckily the perfect thing to say, because the guy had lots of family at the Garrison too. He told Lance that if he worked for him, teaching little kids to dance, for a few years that he would pay for Lance to go to the Garrison. I’m pretty sure he fainted when he heard that. He was always so worried that if he didn’t do well that his scholarship would get taken away. But anyways, I can’t _believe _I didn’t realize this is what he was doing, he hasn’t gotten to dance since the last semester at the Garrison because of those stupid cadets making fun of him, _of course _he’d do it for hours once he got his playlist back!”_____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Keith isn’t too shocked that Lance had needed a scholarship to attend the Garrison with how big his family is, not to mention the fact that Keith himself had a full ride scholarship, but he is surprised at the source. Though, considering what he’s watching, he really shouldn’t be. The song below changes, this new one faster and with a heavy beat, and Lance changes with it, pausing for a second and listening before moving again, a grin splitting his sweaty face. Keith stares, entranced, as his teammate movements become faster and sharper, more precise. He looks like he’s concentrating really hard, and when he stumbles and stops for a second before resuming, Keith realizes that Lance isn’t just making this one up as he goes; he’s trying to remember a previously choreographed dance._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________As the song fades out, Lance slides back to the ground. The song changes, but Lance doesn’t move. He just lays there on his back, breathing hard and smiling contentedly.  
Hunk ushers everybody out quickly, claiming Lance wouldn’t like to know that they’d been spying on him. Coran looks at him, utterly dismayed at this proclamation. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Why the quiznack would Lance be anything but proud at that? Even by Altean standards, that was fantastic!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Hunk sighs. “Yeah, you know that, and I know that, and _Lance _knows that, he does, but… You gotta understand. It doesn’t matter how good he is. People have made fun of him for it, and it hurt him. He loves dancing and performing, showing off, but what those guys said really tore into him. And it wasn’t just once. They made fun of him hard and for a long time, and his self-esteem was getting better, but then it wans still pretty low. The only time he felt confident was when he was dancing, and they ruined that. He stopped dancing in front of people after that, and I know I should have stopped you guys and respected that, but… I wanted you guys to know how _awesome _he is at it, once I saw him doing it again. I can see how impressed you guys are, and I love that, because I’m _still _impressed every time I see him, but please don’t tell him you saw him.” Hunk finishes, his hands out pleadingly._______ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________Shiro nods and claps a hand on Hunks back. “We get it, Hunk. You want to protect him. We’ll try, but I gotta say, at least for me, it’s gonna be pretty hard, because that really was amazing.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________-_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________Despite Hunks pleads, over the next few weeks, they all watch Lance dance. Even Allura. Every time Lance locked the training deck, at least one person was in the observation box. They can’t help it, he’s just so _fun _. He’s good and talented, sure, but that’s not all. The way he moves just catches your eye, and you can’t help but watch him, because it’s so _obvious _that he’s having fun and enjoying himself, and that just makes his audience enjoy themselves._____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________At dinner one night, Lance comes in late. He’s freshly showered and he looks tired, but nobody comments on it. He sits down beside Hunk at the table and plays with his food goo. About twenty minutes later, when the various conversations dwindle out and everybody is fairly done eating, Lance looks up and around at the group. “So,” he says, waiting until all eyes are on him before looking at Pidge across the table. “Did you enjoy the show?” He asks calmly. Pidges reaction is instantaneous. Her eyes widen to the size of dinner plates and her mouth opens and closes multiple times before she just squeaks and covers her face with her hands. Lance raises his eyebrow at her and looks around the table. Everybody else's reactions were about the same, varying in degree of horror and shame. It’s silent for a few seconds before everybody starts talking all at once._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“I’m so sorry-”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“We didn’t mean to-!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“We didn’t realize that’s what-”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“We can explain-”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________They all cut off when Lance throws his head back and laughs. “Guys! It’s okay, I promise.” His grin changes then, to something more earnest and vulnerable. “But seriously, what did you guys think? I mean, I know it’s been awhile since I really practiced, and the songs aren’t always exactly right, and I messed up a lot, and I’m not really where I used to be-” His rambling is cut off by Pidge, and she looks flabbergasted._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“Are you kidding me?! You are literally amazing! We were all so impressed when we first saw you, I had no idea you could _move _like that!” Everybody else nods in agreement. Lance smile grows bigger and bigger with every word.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________Hunk smiles at him. “Yeah, dude, you still got it.” He looks at Lance with apprehension evident on his face. “But, how did you find out? And why aren’t you mad?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________His returning smile is one full of love. “You guys really _aren’t _subtle, like at all. I finished that first day Pidge fixed the phones and spent a good 15 minutes preparing myself for you guys to question me nonstop about why I was on the training deck for so long, but not one of you even mentioned it. Not even Keith, and let’s face it dude, you monopolize that place like no other and you always get pissed if you can’t use it. But you didn’t say _anything _. At all. That was suspicious. Then, Pidge gave me all the music from her’s and Hunk’s phones, and made a point to say that a bunch of them had really good beats, which, okay, isn’t all that suspicious on its own, but combined with everything else, it was wacky. And then Coran showed me how to do an Altean dance, just, out of the blue. And _Allura _! Allura asked if I could help her dust up on her ballroom dancing for diplomatic relations._______ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________________“So, yeah. And I’m not mad because… well. I guess I should be. But once I figured out someone was up there watching me again, I was nervous at first, but then… it became easier. More fun. I started doing things to impress you guys and then I just felt so loose and free, because it’s been so long since I did something like that, since I pushed myself like that. I mean, sure, we push ourselves with our lions and in training, but that’s never been just fun for me, ya know? Not like… not like _that _, not like when I’m dancing. And, I mean, it actually does help, with training and stuff. It’s not just _goofing off _or any-” He’s cut off by an insistent Keith throwing his hands in the air and all but shouting,_____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________________“ _Dude _! We _know _, and even if it was _just _relaxing, it’d be okay. You deserve it. We all do. And… honestly, I’d like to learn how to do some of that stuff.” Keith pulls his hands to himself and looks down, suddenly apprehensive. “For training. Just for training.”_______ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________________________“Did the great Keith Kogane just ask _me _to teach him how to do something?” Lance stares at him for a second and then throws his head back and laughs delightedly. He jumps up and runs around the table, and before anyone can say anything, he throws his arms around Keith in an embrace. “Yeah! I totally will, dude! For training! I’ll totally teach you how to dance!” Keith looks very uncomfortable squished up against Lances side, but gratified all the same.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________________________As he lets Keith go, Lances smile turns into a smirk and he says, “Maybe we can have a bonding moment.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________________________Keith’s face turns red in embarrassment, then anger. “You son of a bitch!” He reaches for Lance’s arm, probably to break it, but Lance dances out of the way, cackling. “Get back here so I can shove your bonding moment up your ass! LANCE!” Keith leaves the dining room at a run, leaving Pidge and Hunk cackling, Allura and Shiro looking embarrassed but amused, and Coran looking confused._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________________________Lance ends up giving the entire team dance lessons. They go about as well as expected._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

**Author's Note:**

> The songs in this are, obviously, Sweet Dreams Are Made of This by Eurythmics and Take It All In by Trent Dabbs. Both were in some of my shows so I had to use them because they were some of my favorite dances. I love the idea of dancer!Lance. Just artsy!Lance in general. Thanks for reading!


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